Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation M Venkaiah Naidu met the CM at the state secretariat.

At the meeting, Jayalalithaa highlighted certain critical areas with which the Naidu’s ministry is directly connected in the rehabilitation of the flood victims, a government release said.

Later, speaking to reporters, Naidu said the central government would provide the necessary support to the state while stressing that encroachments along the riverbanks have to be removed.

Jayalalithaa told Naidu that about 50,000 families living along the banks of the city’s waterways were affected by the floods and they have to be provided alternate accommodation.

According to her, the total expenditure will be around Rs 5,000 crore, and requested Naidu to provide financial aid as special grant for a massive housing project considering the magnitude of the devastation.

Jayalalithaa also sought a special package of Rs 750 crore to build a further 50,000 tenements for families living in slums in Chennai Metropolitan Area who lost their huts in the heavy rains.

Citing the extensive damage to roads, drinking water, sewerage and storm water drainage systems, Jayalalithaa urged the urban development ministry to grant a special package of Rs 4,500 crore for the flood affected urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu.

On November 23, Jayalalithaa sent a memorandum to Modi asking for central funding of Rs 8,481 crore towards flood relief and an immediate relief of Rs 2,000 crore.

Subsequently, a central government official team surveyed the flood damage.

Even after the team’s visit, heavy rains – the worst in a century – battered Chennai and Kanchipuram, Cuddalore and Thiruvallur districts resulting in unprecedented floods.

The rains and floods killed 347 people since October 1, and 17.64 lakh people were rescued and housed in relief centers.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit here, he announced a relief of Rs 1,000 crore in addition to the earlier Rs 940 crore.

According to Jayalalithaa, the Rs 940 crore included Rs 133.79 crore of arrears from 2014-15 towards the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and Rs 254.62 crore towards the second installment of SDRF for the current fiscal. (IANS)

OPS was the first top AIADMK leader to allege that no one was allowed access to Amma.

Ministers and party leaders had various version of the scenario.

Following all this, an inquiry commission was set up to probe the matter.

Sasikala has been alleged of not allowing access to anyone while Amma was in the hospital. IANS

On Friday, Apollo Hospitals submitted two suitcases packed with documents related to the treatment given to J. Jayalalithaa to an inquiry commission set up to probe her death. The commission was also set up to investigate the circumstances that led to Jayalalithaa’s hospitalization and her treatment.

The commission, headed by retired high court judge Justice Arumugasamy, followed by several ministers and party members alleged that they were not allowed to meet the AIADMK chief while she was in the hospital.

V.K. Sasikala’s advocate Raja Senthurapandian has been ordered by the panel to appear before it on 22nd January.

Background

After O Panneerselvam alleged that ‘there’s more’ to Jayalalithaa’s death, what followed was a mirage of statements from several party leaders and ministers. The various version came up regarding the scenario of Amma’s treatment.

Opposition DMK had demanded a CBI inquiry.

OPS’s role

OPS was the first leader who came out with allegations against Sasikala, Wikimedia commons

O Panneerselvam was the first top AIADMK leader to allege that there’s more to the death of Amma. All of it wasn’t made public, he said. OPS also said he wasn’t allowed to meet Jayalalithaa.

The inquiry commission was set up after the AIADMK merger of EPS and OPS factions.

The inquiry was a pre-condition for the merger set by OPS. This was seen as to move to target Sasikala as she was the only one who was allowed access to Amma, at the hospital.

Panneerselvam had also accused Sasikala of ‘forcing him’ to resign when he was the acting Chief Minister. The picture which came up was, Sasikala is trying to assume power.

Ministers and party leaders

Observing the differences between the ruling AIADMK leaders, Opposition took advantage to demand a CBI enquiry. Wikimedia Commons

The inquiry commission was lost in a maze of contradictions as various ministers had various versions of Jayalalithaa’s treatment at Apollo Hospital.

Forest Minister Dindigul Sreenivasan: Sasikala’s family manipulated Jayalalithaa’s treatment and also prevented access to VIP visitors like Arun Jaitley and Rahul Gandhi. This was done to ensure so that the truth about her hospitalization doesn’t come out. Only Sasikala and her family had access to Amma. Even the ministers weren’t allowed.

Tourism Minister Vellamandi N. Natarajan:He repeated the charge. “The truth is that none of us saw Jayalalithaa during that period of hospitalization. We only saw her body when it was brought out of the hospital lift on December 4 night.” said the minister.

Whereas Cooperation Minister Sellur K. Raju differed on the matter. “All of us, ministers, saw Jayalalithaa when she was undergoing treatment at Apollo. This is the truth,” he said.

P Vetrivel, a disqualified MLA from Dinakaran’s camp had released a video in December last year which show Amma resting on her hospital bed and sipping fruit juice while watching TV. He said it’s untrue that no one met Jayalalithaa during her treatment days. Dinakaran claims the video was shot by Sasikala herself.